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Warmth. Sand between my toes. Tropical breezes. Sock knitting. Fresh squeezed orange juice. Lazy days. Perhaps a pina colada?
Yes, I'm leaving the frozen north today for a quick trip to visit my parents in sunny Florida. Howie is staying behind :-( but I'm sure he'll survive.
Back next week, hopefully with my Terrapin socks complete.
I was tagged by Gay to do the "6 weird things about me" meme, so here it is.
First, THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.
I'm going to play along and share the weird things because I've enjoyed finding out other bloggers' weirdnesses (is that a word?), but I don't think I'll tag anyone. So if you read this and want to play along, go ahead, just leave me a comment so I can read up on your idiosyncrasies.
1. I hate fireworks. All kinds, from backyard bottle rockets to magnificent displays put on for the 4th of July. This is totally due to my older brother that would: a) light firecrackers and throw them at me and my sister as we ran screaming past him, and b) sit on the blanket during the town's firework display and say "See that red spark? It's going to float down here and catch our blanket on fire." over and over until my mother would have to take me away to the safety of the car because I was crying hysterically. To this day fireworks scare the heck out of me. Oh, and there was that time at a Grateful Dead concert on July 4 when some shot a bottle rocket that hit my car and exploded right next to my friend's ear.
2. I love ice cream. I know that's not weird, but I only eat coffee ice cream. No other flavor is worth it. Sicne I was a little girl, it's been coffee for me. I've tried chocolate, buttercrunch, strawberry, etc. But really, if it isn't coffee, it isn't worth the calories.
3. I can't stand to be tickled. I cry. Yes, this one is due to my older brother also. He used to hold me down and tickle me until I cried. Now if I get the slightest tickly feeling when someone is touching me, I freak out. My poor husband had to be educated as to the extent of my tickling paranoia.
4. It has to be perfectly quiet for me to sleep. This one is strange because I'm the youngest of five kids. You'd think I was used to a little background noise. The worst noise is a ticking clock. I have to physically remove the clock from the room, move it far away, and close the door. When I sleep over at friends' houses, they find their clocks in strange places the next day. The bad part about this particular trait is that Howie snores. Loudly. So my new best friends are my earplugs. Can't go to sleep without them. Of course, it perpetuates the silence while sleeping thing. If I don't have my earplugs in, sleeping is torture.
5. I always have cold feet. I wear socks ALL THE TIME. Even in the summer. And I have to wear them to bed unless it's about 80 degrees out. That means I wear socks to bed about 345 days a year. (Howie thinks this one is particularly weird because his feet are always hot.)
6. If I have a pen and paper, I have to doodle. When I was in school, I would fill the margins of my notebook with elaborate drawings. When I'm done with the crossword puzzle, the newspaper is covered with ink. You get the idea. I always thought everyone did this, but if people see my notes, they always comment on the doodles.
That's all I've got. I thought of these myself, and then asked Howie what he thought was weird about me. Right off the top of his head he came up with the coffee ice cream thing and the cold feet thing. He totally agreed on the others too.
And because this is meme day for me, I'll leave you with a picture of my wallpaper. I don't know where I saw the meme of "show me your wallpaper", but I like seeing what other people look at every day. So here's mine.
It's an anemone that Howie photographed last summer on a dive in New Hampshire.
I didn't think I had much to show you. I've been working on my Print O' the Waves stole off and on all week. I've been trying to do at least one pattern reapeat (12 rows) every evening. I didn't think it had grown much but it's way bigger than it was for the last photo shoot. How boring is a lace-in-progress shot?
You be the judge. Just a lumpy pile of yarn overs and knit 2 togethers. But it grows!
Winter has finally set in around here. We had snow overnight and ended up with at least 5 or 6 inches. It made for an interesting commute this morning and a fun time playing in the backyard with the dog this evening. I fear his favorite toy is buried until spring. Oh well, we're well stocked with tennis balls around here. There must be 50 or 60 of them that he's lost in the woods which he finds from time to time, and we have a fresh bag full from my friend who plays tennis at a club. When she sees other people throwing used tennis balls away, she grabs them for Moebius. Is that love or what?
One of my goals this year is to knit a lace stole. It's been in the back of my mind for months and I finally made the leap this weekend. I've knit lace before, but always on a smaller scale and never with lace weight yarn. Every time I look at a completed lace shawl on any blog, I'm awed by the accomplshment. The problem with a triangular shawl for me is that I don't think I would EVER wear it. I have visions of grandmothers in rocking chairs when I see one. So early on I decided that I would knit a rectangular stole instead of a triangular shawl.
Then came the decisions on which pattern to knit. I have one major road block this year: I am not purchasing anything new. So that means the pattern has to be free. I've been looking at Eunny's Print O' the Wave Stole for months, marveling at the workmanship, the pattern, and the overall design. I have some laceweight 80% alpaca 20% silk handspun in the stash that I purchased last summer in Ontario that fits the bill. So I took the plunge and cast on. And I discovered something about myself. I hate knitting flat work on circular needles. The whole floppy cable thing was driving me crazy. Not to mention this:
Yes, off white laceweight yarn on an off white needle. I lasted less than one row.
Instead, I cast on using my trusty yard sale purchased, bent and faded, almost antique Susan Bates aluminums.
Much better! And the needles are in a convenient contrasting color.
After three pattern repeats, I don't have the pattern memorized, but it's much easier to spot an error as I knit. The pattern calls for 80 stitches, including four repeats of the center wave pattern. I dedided to cast on 64 stitches, with only three repeats of the center pattern for a narrower scarf-like stole. This was also done out of necessity since I have less yarn than the pattern calls for.
It looks lumpy like all lace in progress, but you get the idea. The color is kind of boring, but it is oh so soft and lush. I can always dye it when I'm done if it still bores me, can't I?
My unfortunate illness of the last few days has passed; thanks for all your well-wishes. I'm back on my feet and almost 100% better (still eating soup and applesauce though).
I thought I'd share a little bit of cuteness with you. My boss recently got a new pug to add to his menagerie (he already has two at home plus other assorted pets). This one is TINY. Her name is Mini and she's just about the cutest thing ever. We're all in love with her at the office (she comes to work!).
I was watching Knitty Gritty the other day, and they had a cape for dogs so I had to knit one for Mini. Our dog is much too big to be seen wearing a dog-cape, but Mini is just the right kind of dog for one. She shivers in the cold, she weighs all of 4 or 5 pounds, and it would just seem right for her. So I whipped one up. I didn't have her measurements, and I could have made it a little bigger, but for now, it works.
When I showed the picture to Howie he commented that I didn't have anything to compare her size to, but let's just say that you can scoop her up in one hand she's so small.
Just so you don't think Moebius isn't cute, this is what I came home to today:
I love that floppy-eared look!
Today is my one-year blogiversary. I had a post planned in my head about what this blog has meant to me. How I've met wonderful people, challenged myself knit-wise, blah, blah, blah.
But instead, I'm sick. And not just any kind of sick. I'm puking sick. I hate puking. It's the worst kind of sick. I work with sick kids all day and am obsessed with not getting their germs. I was so proud of myself and my immune system for not getting this nasty upper respiratory virus that is going around. This afternoon I started to feel sick to my stomach. I actually almost needed to excuse myself from an exam room because I was so nauseous. Then about an hour later, I started getting the chills. One of the nurses took my temp and it was 100.5. I guess I'm sick!
I had about a thirty minute drive home. I took a bag. And I drove in the right lane. I kept saying to myself that I'd make it home. No problem, I'm not going to puke. But that feeling wouldn't go away. I was driving down my street, planning my route from garage to bathroom. I pulled into the driveway and my cell phone rang.
It was Howie: "I'm at the pharmacy getting your meds" (my doc called in some antinausea meds that cost $700 so I didn't end up getting them - a whole other story.)
Me: "What is it? I'm in the driveway and I don't feel good. Do you need me for something?!?!"
Howie: "I was wondering if you could call in some Chinese food for me to the restaurant near the supermarket?"
You can probably guess what my response was. Yes, I puked in the driveway, four times, while Howie listened. I just said "No, I can't." and hung up the phone.
So here I am, with my ginger ale and saltines, wrapped in a million blankets, trying to keep warm and keep my saltines down.
Happy Frickin' Blogiversary to Me!
That's right, I completed Fetching last night!
With this much left over:
That, and the little string connecting the two:
How, you may ask, did I knit them together like that? Simple really. I completed one as the pattern states, and found that they were just too short for my hands. I'm not a petite woman. I'm 5'10'' with size 10.5 feet (OK, I wear an eleven sometimes). My hands are not small. They came below the knuckles and looked silly.
I've read that with one ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, there aren't many leftovers. So I was a little nervous about what to do. I figured I could save them for a Christmas gift for next year. But after a few trips to the digital scale and some fancy figuring, I decided I could make them a little longer. So I took the plunge and put one more cable twist in the second glove then bound off. But I didn't cut the yarn. I then took apart the bind off on glove number one and reknit it a little longer from the other end of the same ball. You can see from the picture that I had about six inches left. It was all a little scary and palpitation-causing. But I survived.
And I haven't taken them off since.
Who knew that a husband who is surrounded by knitting and knit talk all the time would actually understand the talk?
I've been TiVo-ing Knity Gritty since it has been on HGTV and I watch it now and then. The other day Howie was watching it with me. Why is he interested in a knitting show? Is there a knitter inside of him waiting to come out? Time will tell. So on the show, they were decreasing. The person said: "Slip one stitch, knit one stitch and pass slipped stitch over."
Howie, about two minutes later, exclaimed:"So that's what it stands for!!!"
Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about. "What does WHAT stand for?"
"Slip Stitch & Pass," he said. "You know, the Phish album.
Then came the best part:"That's why there's a huge ball of yarn rolling down the beach after the guy!!" He was truly tickled that he put it all together.
I was floored. We've owned the album for years, I know knitting terms, I've seen that ball of yarn without realizing it's a ball of yarn. I never thought about it.
It took Howie hearing the words on the TV to put it all together. Who knew that he would understand?
In MY knitting news, I started Fetching last night. One down, half of the second one done and will complete them tonight if I start knitting soon. They won't be for me though because I don't like the fit. Maybe an early start on next Christmas? That would be new for me, actually starting Christmas knitting early!
